Monday, April 22, 2013

More, More, More: Ribbit!



It's the picture book with heart that grabs me. Ribbit! did that from the cover alone. With hot pink end pages, I was ready for a treat and author Rodrigo Folgueira and illustrator Poly Bernatene did just that.

One morning a frog family is disconcerted to discover a pig sitting on a rock in their pond. All questions are met with the pig's response, "Ribbit!" Fearing the frogs are being made fun of, they consult the opinions of other animals regarding this pig in their pond. After retrieving the wise old beetle, they return to find the pig has left.

"Maybe," said the wise old beetle,
"he just wanted to make
new friends."

Readers will delight to see the pig's solution, and all the animals finally making friends with the pig, who, by the way, now says, "Tweet!"

Along with the text, I really responded to the texture of the paper showing through the illustration, and on closer examination, I was surprised to find faint, indistinguishable words included in the backgrounds. The layering of scenes and charming main characters works so well together.

Find Ribbit! and your totz will be saying, "More, more, more, ribbit!"

Ribbit!
by Rodrigo Folgueira
illustrated by Poly Bernatene
Alfred A. Knopf, Random House

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